I feel like you were under a lot of pressure to produce something in a limited amount of time, and while I’d love to give you some positive comments, I’d have to look at it a little more closely, but in all honesty, I think your writing has gotten worse rather than better.
1) It’s clear that you’ve tried to incorporate my critique, but rather than flowing seamlessly into a single argument, it’s a patchwork of parts, and I’m not sure what the overall thesis is. Can you summarize in one sentence what you’re trying to argue in this paper, and highlight what makes it different from other papers that have come out in the literature on US-China competition and the choice of middle-income countries?
2) In terms of format, your paper has an overabundance of subheadings, which further reinforces the impression that it’s a patchwork. Subheadings are supposed to encapsulate key points to help the reader understand what’s coming next, but the subheadings themselves are bland and the dozen or so subheadings make it harder to read. Take a look at the paper I gave you for reference. It has significantly fewer subheadings and is much more readable.
3) I’m sorry to say, but it appears that you still lack the discipline to write an academic paper.